St. Paul daily globe., 1887-08-22
A Prominent Coal Dealer Says
an Increase in Prices
May Be Expected.
Summary of the Railroad Sit
uation in Manitoba By a
Former Resident.
DR.. Garvin's Lecture---Re-
marks By the 0ld-Timer
On Everyday Topics.
ANOTHER MERRY WAR.
This Time 1t is Over Contract
on the New Court House.

This Time 1t is Over Contracts
on the New Court House.
The action of the city hall and court
house commission in-letting the con-
tract for steam heating to the highest
bidder. is creating "a great deal of un-
favorable comment, especially among
the bidders who got left, and promises
to be the casus belli of merry Set-to
that NAV rival the uptown bridge affair.
The contract was awarded to a. D..
Nepil, of Des MOines, To-, for S3S,000,
almost twice the sum asked by the next
highest bidder Five st. Paul firms had
lower bids than Mr.. Nepil, and Thomas
Davis, formerly of Rogers & Davis, now
in the steam heating business at 104
East Fourth street, spoke the sentiment
of all last night when interviewed by a
GLOBE reporter. He said:
Itappears, from the report published III the
SUNDAY GLOBE. that the contract for the
steam heating in the new court house has
been awarded TO A, o. Nepil for $4,000; L
would like to know why this contract has
been awarded to a firm wnom no one knows
for double the price bid by responsible ST.
Paul firms. This is nearly 81 900 higher
than the lowest bid, and is. in fact, more Of
swindie than the upper bridge contract; The
architect states that Nepn was the only bid
QeT hDICIl GOnlDllcu WIN lhC
This is not so. for there were no specifca-
tions to comply with, every firm bidding
furnishing their own specifications.
There are firms in St Paul capable and
of Nepirs bid. Who is Nepil, and where
did he come fromg If the architect or COM
missioners wish to pile iron in the building
in order to raise the price, st. Paul firms
should be allowed to bid on unnecessary ma
terial St Paul. firms are ready to furnish
satisfactory bonds TO do this work in a salts
factory manner, and if the architect wants
lot of useless material in the building he
should make specifications stating inst what
is required. and every one would then be
bidding on the same material, and the lowest
responsible bidder would be entitled to the
contract An Injunction Will be served to
prevent the contract being awaIded to Nepil.
AN INJUNCTION TALKED OF.
Mr.. Davis has consulted an attorney
and the prayer for injunction will prob
ably be placed before the district court
to-day. The law provides that all con-
tracts awarded by the commissioners
must be confirmed by a three-fOurthS
missiOners. a Joint meeting of those
bodies will be held tomorrow night at
7O'clOck, and County Commissioner NJ.
j. DAILY will oppose the confirmation of
the contract Mr.. DAILY thinks all of the
county board feel as he does and antic
ipates no trouble in defeating the con-
firmatiOn of the award to Nepil. Inter
viewed at his residence last night Mr..
Daily said:
l want to have this matter explained. I
can't see why foreign bidder who asks
twice as much as local firms should get that
contract. and am opposed TO letting any
contracts TO outside parties when the work
can be just as well done by home concerns.
At the suggestion of the Trades and Labor
q assembly introduced resolution, which
passed the county board, recommending to
the city hall and court house commissioners
that they give the preference to st. Paul bid
ders i'll letting all contracts. There are plenty
of st. Paul firms who can do this work just
aswel as outsider, and I-want to see them
have fair show to get il.
When the commission advertised for
bids for steam heating, Architect Bass
ford prepared no detailed plans and
specifications of material required, but
submitted to bidders only few in
Structions as to what the specifications
must include, leaving the bidders to
submit their own plans and specifca-
tiOns' with their bids. AT a subsequent
meeting these plans and specifications
were opened and referred to Architect
BaSSfOrd to examine and report which,
in his opinion, was the most desirable
system. At the meeting Saturday
night the architect read
A LENGTHY CRITICISM
upon all the plans and bids submitted,
except that of Mr.. Nepil, which he pro-
nOunced by far the most advantageous
and lauded not little. Acting on his
advice the commission voted the award
of the contract to Mr.. Nepil. The arch
itect'S main objections to the other bids
were that they did not provide for suffi-
cient radiation; that they proposed to
use smaller pipes; and that all except
Mr.. Nepil proposed hanging or laying
the pipes in the basement. totally de-
stroying the utility of that floor, which
is to be finished off and occupied.